Horological Meandering

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JEANRICHARD colours the Aquascope Blue! A Boat Race watch!

It is a quintessentially English sporting event. In the modern world it makes hardly any sense at all: a private duel between two universities that has continued, with the occasional World War interruption for 185 years. This year it was the 160th running of the race from Putney to Mortlake: a distance, by meandering river Thames of 4 miles, 374 yards. The race is rowed on the flood tide around the spring equinox; just at that moment when the tide is at its maximum volume of water and about the moment when the tide will turn. The river is at its highest point.


[Although you may only support one blue or the other, the rivalry is always friendly!]

The race is brutal; in just about any definition of the word that you care to apply. Born in an age where boxing was still of the ‘bare knuckle’ variety, and where sporting contests were of a test of survival (through attrition) the Boat Race was a Corinthian ideal of the athlete scholar. At approximately four and a quarter miles, the race is 31 times the distance of an Olympic or international rowing event. It is often something of an unpleasant surprise to international oarsmen who enter either Cambridge or Oxford to find out that while their training was sufficient for the national squad (in whichever country they previously resided) the training for the Boat Race is that much more intense. The most famous example of this was the Oxford mutiny in 1987 that resulted from a U.S. national rower (Chris Clark) not accepting the training methods required for a race of such length and intensity. He and his fellow mutineers were excluded from the race.


[The crews are away!]

Despite the fact that so very few actually ever row in the Boat Race, or even compete for a place in one of the crews, the Boat Race is watched by a crowd of approximately 250000 on the river bank and as large as 16 million on television screens worldwide. Although the race is now sponsored, and this has added to the publicity surrounding the Boat Race, the crews must be composed of matriculating students at the respective universities who met the entrance requirements on academic merit. That is, they must be registered for a recognized course of study. As such, the oarsmen are required to both complete their studies and row. It leaves little else in life for the rowers in the respective squads in the months before the Boat Race takes place.





This year the timekeeper was Jean Richard. This was the first time that Jean Richard had sponsored the Boat Race. Sponsorship first entered the Boat Race in 1976 (as overall sponsorship) and since that time has steadily increased. The influx of funds has been put towards equipment, coaching staff, and facilities. It has raised the standards of the crews. However, while other watch firms have been involved in sponsorship in the past, to my knowledge, this is the first time that the watch sponsor has actually produced a limited edition watch. In keeping with changes to the title of the race since Xchanging asked (and paid) for a change to the title back in 2012, the Boat Race now has the main sponsor preceding the title. Hence, this year, the Boat Race was actually the BNY Mellon Boat Race as BNY Mellon has taken on the main sponsor’s role.



Jean Richard’s special edition watch falls in the newly launched Aquascope collection. In keeping with the fact that this is the 160th race in the Boat Race series, the watch is limited to 160 pieces. Thankfully, Jean Richard have shown some smart thinking in all of this and have not simply gone for the water resistant chronograph. Believe me, from someone who used to row, there is not much point to a chronograph for the members of the crew. It is really simple. You turn up at the start at the appointed time. Someone else (the referee) starts the race, and it’s the first one across the line at the other end of the course. There is no time measurement per se, although various records stand for the completion of the course. Hence, there really is no point to the chronograph in such a setting.



The watch is just that: a commemorative sports watch that could be worn by an oarsman and survive the experience. You can read the time accurately and concisely and that’s all you need. The 12o’clock marker has both the Cambridge blue and the Oxford blue on a marker a piece; and the minute indicators comprised of the two blue colours. Water resistant to a depth of 300 metres in a case of stainless steel with a non-reflective coating on the crystal, the watch is both stylish, sufficiently robust to the elements it faces, and priced at a point that makes it accessible.



Andrew H This message has been edited by 219 on 2014-04-29 15:14:04 This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-04-29 20:54:51 This message has been edited by AndrewD on 2014-05-03 05:21:35

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